Upbeat BJP senses chance in Rajasthan

Rajasthan, which was being written off by political pundits, is now seen as the state witnessing a close contest between the BJP and the Congress.

BJP president Amit Shah during an election campaign in Ajmer on Wednesday ahead of the December 7 Rajasthan Assembly elections. (Photo: PTI)

Jaipur: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the charge and BJP chief Amit Shah and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje making a final pitch for votes, the party appears to be upbeat about its performance in the poll-bound state.

Rajasthan, which was being written off by political pundits, is now seen as the state witnessing a close contest between the BJP and the Congress.

Sources stated that the party is confident that Mr Modi’s 13 rallies across the state and Mr Shah reaching out to the cadres will help tilt voters towards the saffron party. The BJP is also hopeful that Ms Raje’s appeal amongst women voters will ensure a better performance for it on Dec. 7, when the state goes to vote. Sources pointed out that Mr Shah and Ms Raje have reached out to every district of the state in their quest for victory.

Speaking to this newspaper, the BJP’s Rajasthan election in-charge Prakash Javadekar said that the party will definitely come back with a comfortable majority.

“We have made several strategic experiments in Rajasthan and are hopeful that these will bear fruit by the state electing the Vasundhara Raje government,” Mr Javadekar said.

Mr Shah reached out to the party’s cadre across the state and tried to placate and motivate them to work towards the party’s success. Sources stated that contrary to the BJPs earlier assessment of “hopeless” Rajasthan, the party now feels that it has a fighting chance in the state.

Another star campaigner for the party who is credited with the party’s changed prospects in the state is Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath who has been reaching out to the party’s core Hindu vote base and has been attracting vast crowds.

“Polarisation of votes and consolidation of Hindu votes is definitely going to help us in this election,” said a senior leader of the party.

The BJP is also hopeful that the Congress’ internal factionalism — between the Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot camps — is going to help it in securing more seats than was being expected before. Another factor that the BJP is banking on are the minor political players — like Bahujan Samaj Party, Bharat Vahini Party of Ghanshyam Tiwari and some powerful Independent candidates — who could eat into the Congress’ votes.

The Rajasthan Assembly has 200 seats. The state is an important asset for the BJP as it had won all its 25 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 polls.